Don't Leave Me
by maple the wacky tree
Summary: And then her bedroom door suddenly burst open, revealing the tall, angry silhouette of her sempai, and all she could think about for several minutes was, "Crap! Why did I ever give him the Alice that could pick open any lock!" shikiXyuka oneshot


Yuka closed her bedroom door behind her. The lock gave a hollow, forlorn click. Woozily, Yuka trudged over to her bathroom and glanced in the mirror. What she saw made her grip the sink tightly. But no, there was nothing to worry about, right? That ragged girl in the mirror couldn't be _her_ reflection, right?

Yuka's knees buckled, and she collapsed to the bathroom floor, still clutching the sink for dear life. It had been two weeks now. Was it really only two weeks? The elementary principal's proposal seemed like ages ago. Luna had instantly found out. And, of course, she wasn't the least bit thrilled about it. Yuka had thought Luna had hated her before. Now there was nothing but sheer contempt in the eyes that used to belong to her best friend.

At first, Luna had just threatened her and thrown verbal attacks at her. Luna wanted Yuka to refuse the principal's proposal. Immediately. But Yuka refused. Not because she wanted to go through the marriage, as Luna assumed, but because she knew she had to do something to stop the principal. And if marriage was the fastest way to get close enough to him to steal his Alice, then Yuka would just have to bear it.

Luna didn't like Yuka's stubbornness. Gradually, Yuka began to fall into accident after accident. She wasn't stupid. She knew that Luna was behind it all. Pranks like filling her shoes with tacks, or putting weird potions in her drink. Then, Luna started to resort to using her Alice. Constantly now, Yuka was being shoved into lockers, tripped down the stairs, and having her seat pulled out from under her by complete strangers, or even people she knew fairly well. Whenever Yuka confronted Luna about it, Luna would just smile pleasantly with a chuckle. "You know how to make it stop," she said ever so sweetly. Or maybe, if there was no one around, Luna's voice would turn dark. "I am going to turn everyone against you, Yuka **Arumi**. No one will want to be around you. You will be completely and utterly abandoned. And if you are foolish and pathetic enough to have your friends fight your battles for you, then I might just have to _take care of them._"

Today, some of the people under Luna's spell had ambushed her. They pushed her to the ground and started kicking until Yuka finally teleported out of fright. But because she had been so distracted, she accidentally teleported herself straight into a fountain. Actually, her clothes were still a little damp.

"Suddenly . . . I feel so exhausted," Yuka muttered to herself. The beating had left her drained. Yuka heaved herself back to her feet, only to take a few steps before collapsing in her bed. It had been a long two weeks.

_"Why can't you just open your eyes and see how much trouble you give everyone?! Everyone secretly hates you! You're being so selfish!"_ Yuka winced when Luna's voice rolled through her head. She pressed her fingers to her temples hard to make it stop.

As she lied there on her side, her face half buried in the pillow, she could see her telephone. She lifted her face. There it was, just waiting for Yuka to pick it up and dial whatever number she pleased.

_But do I really want to tell them about it? _It's not like Yuka wanted to fish for pity. And she didn't doubt the threat Luna had made. That she would only hurt her friends if Yuka tried to get them involved in this whole mess. But still, what Luna had said unnerved Yuka somewhat. That Yuka was all alone. That she was hated. Maybe she just felt the desire to prove Luna wrong.

Yuka carefully picked up the phone, held her breath, and dialed the first number she thought of.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**___"You've reached Kaoru's room. She is not here at the moment. Please leave a message."_

"Hi, Kaoru. It's Yuka," Yuka gushed, a little too cheerfully. "We've been so busy with exams that we don't see each other as much. How about a slumber party or something? I'll . . . I'll even let you paint my toenails." The last sentence came out quietly, with just the slightest hint of desperation. Yuka hated getting her toenails painted, especially since Kaoru was known to use only the craziest colors, but if it brought her here, maybe it was worth it.

Yuka hung up and tried a different number.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**___"You've reached Narumi's room. He is not here at the moment. Please leave a message."_

"Narumi! Where have you been lately? It's seems like forever since we've last talked. Call me back . . . please?"

Yuka hung up again, this time a little harder. She hesitated before picking it up again. Jeez, she really hadn't wanted to resort to this phone number. Her fingers dialed it slowly, half dreading that it would be just another answering machine, and half-dreading that the person would actually pick up.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**___"You've reached Shiki's room. He is not here at the moment. Please leave a message."_

Yuka let out a shaky sigh. "Er, hi . . . Shiki-san. Um, I just uh. . . I wanted to talk . . .but you're not there so . . .but I guess that's obvious, huh? . . . Ummm, you know what? Never mind. It's nothing. Forget it."

Yuka slammed the phone down, horrified at herself. Did she really just do that? Did she _really_ just do that? Ughh, how embarrassing! Why did she even bother calling Shiki? He had told her before that he didn't like talking on the phone. Of course he wouldn't answer.

Yuka stared at the phone. Who else could she call? She really didn't know any other phone numbers. _All of a sudden, my list of friends seems really small,_ Yuka thought miserably.

Maybe Luna was right . . . ?

No, no! Yuka shook her head wildly. She couldn't think like that. She may not have many friends, but the ones she had were entirely loyal. They would call her back no matter what. And then they would laugh together, and Yuka would forget all about her stupid worries.

Yuka changed out of her wet uniform and into her pajamas. Then she sat on the edge of her bed, clutching her pillow in a death grip and engaging in a futile staring contest with her phone. Any minute now. Any minute now one of her friends would call her back. Yuka just knew it. She had to have faith.

But eventually, with each passing hour, her heart sank lower and lower. Her head started to bob with exhaustion. When the digital clock showed a neon green 11:14, Yuka had fallen backwards in her bed and fell asleep.

~**~~**~

Yuka groaned and opened her eyes. Then she jolted into a sitting position, her eyes darting around the dark room. How long had she been asleep? Stupid! What if someone had called while she had been snoozing? Warily, Yuka glanced over at the phone. The new message light was completely dark. And the clock now claimed that it was sometime past midnight. Yuka moaned in defeat. But then, what could have woken her up?

Yuka jumped at the sound of angry banging outside her door. _No way! Are Luna and her cronies going to gang up on me at night?_ She thought in fear.

"Yuka! Open up right now!"

"Eh?"

That was the voice of Shiki. No, correction. That was the voice of a rather pissed off Shiki. It was hard for some people to tell, but Yuka knew almost immediately that he was pissed off.

That was almost scarier than Luna . . .

"Open the damn door, Yuka!"

Huh? He actually cussed in her presence. He never does that! Yuka's mind was whirling. "N-no! I don't wanna!" Yuka stammered, too confused to really comprehend the meaning of Shiki's arrival.

There was silence on the other end. Yuka breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know why Shiki was acting so weird in the first place. He was just going to create a scene, which was normally the kind of thing he liked to avoid. Yuka's ears twitched when she heard a clicking noise. And then the door suddenly swung open, revealing the tall silhouette of her sempai. Yuka's jaw dropped open at his audacity, and all she could think about for several minutes was:

_Crap!!! Why did I ever give him the Alice that could pick open any lock?_

"Yuka, what are you doing?" he said in a flat tone when he saw her, sitting on her bed with a stupefied expression.

That struck Yuka as a rather idiotic question. "You're the one who just came barging in, pervert!" she half-yelled. She tossed her pillow at his head. Shiki didn't make a single move to dodge, and it bounced off the side of his face. It landed back on the ground and sagged lifelessly.

Shiki wasn't amused.

Outside of her room, Yuka could hear the sound of mutterings and opening doors. Shiki sighed resignedly and shut Yuka's door before they could notice his presence. Whether he was Student Council President or not, it wouldn't sit well with the rest of the school if he was caught running around at night and stealing into girl's dormitories. It was completely dark in Yuka's room now. "You're the one who left that annoyingly vague message on the phone, remember?"

"O-oh. Right." Yuka replied lamely. Wait a minute. It could have just been the girl's imagination, but did Shiki sound a little worried? Had her message worried him? Was that why he was here?

"Then why didn't you just call back?" Yuka demanded in a loud whisper.

"I hate phones," came the simple reply.

Yuka made a face, even though she knew Shiki couldn't see it in the dark. "I know _that_, but still—!"

Without warning, Shiki flicked the lights on. The sudden brilliance burned. Yuka hissed in protest, and she covered her eyes with her hands. She thought she heard Shiki suck in his breath. Her stomach lurched as she remembered what her pajamas consisted of. A black tank top that was a little too small for her. Red sophie shorts. That was all. The combination equaled minimum skin coverage, which translated to the fact that all of Yuka's various bruises and other battle scars were completely visible. Yuka squeaked in alarm and burrowed beneath her covers. This was bad. She really hadn't wanted anyone to see. The point of the phone calls was not so that her friends would actually come visit her. Well, she wouldn't have minded it _too _much if Kaoru had indeed come over for a "slumber party", but Yuka had really just wanted to talk. It was so much easier to lie and hide secrets when you were on the phone.

So why the heck did Shiki have to be there?!?

Someone ripped off the covers. Yuka slowly opened her eyes and saw Shiki towering over her. Though his face would never betray out-right shock or alarm, she could detect the slight raise of his eyebrows. He pulled her into a seated position despite her protests, and he sat down next to her. "Yuka," he muttered. He reached out and held both of her bruised arms. "What happened?"

The way he touched her skin, so tenderly and carefully, it made Yuka start to cry. She didn't want this. She didn't want to see those strong eyes gazing into hers with a worry that was so unlike Shiki. Shiki didn't worry. He never worries.

Yuka scrubbed at her eyes in frustration, wishing that she wasn't acting like this in front of Shiki. She hated crying in front of people. But there was something about his eyes that made Yuka feel like a child. Helpless and weak. Shame burned in her stomach now that she had been caught, that Shiki had seen her all beat up. Yuka couldn't stop bawling her heart out. Really, she was so _pathetic._

Shiki stared at her for a moment, and then, he hesitantly put his arms around her. Yuka probably should have cared about the way he kissed the top of her head, or the way he ran his fingers through her hair, but she was crying too much to tell him to stop.

"Yuka, could you at least tell me who did this to you?" he asked quietly. Then his voice grew tight with barely concealed rage. "I could quite literally rip the person's limbs off for doing this to you. I won't rest until I make sure that—"

Yuka shook her head in frantic refusal.

"Why not?"

"I can't!" she choked out. "And you can't tell anyone else. If they know you know, you'll only get hurt too."

"Me?" Shiki frowned. "I think that should be one of the least of your concerns."

"I don't want you to get hurt. I couldn't bear it if you did." Yuka probably should have added that she couldn't bear seeing her other friends get hurt too, but it slipped her mind at the moment.

After a few minutes, Yuka hiccupped and asked, "Shiki-san, why didn't the others call me back? They aren't . . . they aren't sick of me, are they?"

She felt Shiki stiffen in surprise. "What kind of a question is that? Of course not."

"Then why?"

Shiki paused, as if he didn't really know if he should be telling her this. "They've both been called out on missions," he finally said slowly.

"So . . . they're gone." Her chest felt hollow when she said that. Acting on impulse, Yuka clutched at his shirt and buried her face in his chest. "Shiki-san, could you promise me something?"

"What?"

"Don't ever leave me."

Shiki's eyes widened, but Yuka didn't notice.

"Don't ever leave me. I don't want to be alone, Shiki-san." It was such a selfish wish. Yuka knew her friends were only leaving her behind on the missions so that she wouldn't have to do them, but still. Yuka didn't want them to go. She was so worried that one day, Luna might be right, and that she really would be alone and abandoned. Or that everyone might get tired of looking after her and eventually grow to hate her.

So selfish. Too selfish for Shiki to actually agree with it, Yuka was sure. Why would he want to stay behind and babysit her all the time? Especially since there was nothing to gain from it. It's not like Yuka would just magically change her feelings for Shiki. Why should he stay with someone that might never like him back? But to her upmost shock, Shiki whispered in her ear, "_Baaaka_, I thought I already told you I wouldn't leave your side. Have you already forgotten?" He held her tighter. "It doesn't matter what people say. It doesn't even matter what you say. I'll do whatever it takes to be with you. And nothing will change my mind."

Yuka sucked in her breath, and then she cried harder. "Th-thank you," she managed to choke out.

Shiki was silent for a while, as he waited for Yuka to calm down. Then he asked, "Of course, does your demand mean you want me to stay the night as well?"

Yuka gaped at him. "Is—is that supposed to be some sort of joke?!?" Yuka exclaimed with wide eyes.

Shiki's stoic face never changed in the slightest. "I guess it was. I was just making sure."

"Jeez, Shiki-san. Saying such weird things like that." And Yuka even laughed a little. Granted, it was a tiny, broken laugh, but it was infinitely better than crying. Shiki gave the smallest hint of a satisfied smile.

"Well anyway, I'm at least going to stay until you fall asleep."

"There's no way I could sleep with you looking at me."

"Then try harder."

"It's impossible."

"Just do it."

Yuka leaned against him, savoring his warmth. After a while, Shiki started to hum a little. _He's so . . . out of tune, _she thought bluntly. But nonetheless, the hum carried deep into his chest, giving off a soft vibration that was somewhat soothing. And the way he continually ran his fingers through her hair made Yuka sleepy. The exhaustion from the fight that day was catching up with her. Within minutes, she was out.

Once he realized that she had fallen asleep, Shiki gently laid her out and tucked her in. Yuka unconsciously snuggled up in the warm blankets. Shiki didn't think he had ever seen anything cuter. He was about to get up and leave, but he hesitated, hovering beside her. Shiki stared at her adorable face a little longer before slowly leaning in. Their noses were almost touching. He could feel her warm breath tickling his chin. Her mouth was right there, as if waiting for him. But Shiki stopped. He changed his mind and just gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"We'll be together forever. You'll see," Shiki whispered as he brushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face. He stayed for another whole hour, just watching her sleep, before finally making his way back to his own dorm.


End file.
